What makes an expert Technician?

Technicians are expected to be the expert in a particular field. Product-, and in particular Service- training is key and lays ground for Technicians. But how do they get their expertise, and can it be taught?

There are many factors to consider when things go awry in the field, but quite often either Technicians or insufficient service training is blamed for failure. “A knowledge deficiency!” Or “Our technicians need more expert level training!” – they say.

But what went wrong? Do Technicians really need more in-depth training, or did they not fully understand what was initially taught in class? Could it be that Technicians are overwhelmed with the product portfolio they need to know?

According to Wikipedia: An expert is somebody who has a broad and deep competence in terms of knowledge, skill and experience through?practice?and?education?in a particular field.

Competence = Education + Exposure

Continuous, and repeated, service training is key and lays ground for technicians. Practice is the other half to success. Very often Technicians get trained on a product, but don’t get the immediate opportunity to work on it. Technicians don’t become experts, nor experienced, based on training only. They need an opportunity to apply their skills immediately and frequently after the training. Only then they gain experience, expertise and eventually develop sustainable competence.

Learning is a process, not a one-time affair!

Technicians are overwhelmed by the number of different products they need to know and cannot process new and complex information in a fairly short time. They need time to learn and apply newly gained product knowledge before effectively adding on the next product.

Online training has become popular and is nowadays the way to go. Obviously, there are challenges attached to it, such as missing hands-on training and long “screen time” sessions. This makes it even more important that Technicians get the opportunity to apply their skills immediately and frequently after the training. Service Managers are challenged and encouraged to give their team enough time for frequent training and practice. Only then expertise and competence is built.